Part 1984 and Logans Run with plenty of action to boot

Rating: 7/10 (24 July 2005)

As a self proclaimed most hated man amongst critics in Hollywood, Michael Bay has done nothing over the years to deflect his growing reputation. His filmography reads like a loud speaker of summer trash including Bad Boys I and II, The Rock, Armageddon and Pearl Harbor. Each of these films was panned by critics like Alaskan gold in 1896. Their success at the box office however is teetering on a money in the bank title as his last four ventures have all made over $100 million and if we include the foreign and DVD market intake, Bay has become the youngest and quickest director to ever become a Billion Dollar Man.
The reason his films are so reviled by the print and entertainment media is due to the large scale productions brought to the screen with scripts as flimsy as a wet noodle and dialogue that leaves audiences groaning like Lurch when the doorbell rings. For explosions, car chases and pyrotechnics aside, you can only stand for so many "Every night I watch the sunset and soak up every last ray of its warmth, and send it from my heart to yours" lines before your popcorn receptacle is turned into a barf bag.
Well, Michael Bay is back on the summer bandwagon with his latest entry, The Island  his first film without the Jerry Bruckheimer producing credit behind his name. This extravaganza stars Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson (Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Girl with the Pearl Earring for those of you at home who don't readily recognize the names), as two humans who have been harvested as clones for potential organ usage. They live in a community that separates them from the rest of the world. They have the intellectual level of a fifteen year old and seem (in their minds) to exist with only the hope of winning a rigged lottery that would send them to an open air island, the only uncontaminated location in the outside world.
But their suspicions and subsequent investigations reveal more then they imagined and they soon find themselves outside of the lab and on the run from the officials of the facility. Unfamiliar with their new surroundings, the two dodge various authorities while on the search for their sponsor (the owner of their organs) in an attempt to tell them the truth and hopefully reveal to the world the fact that they are more than brain dead embryos.
The Island has two different and distinct parts. Part One stays with the science fiction elements of the harvesting human community. It is part 1984, part Logan's Run and is very successful in creating a world that is fascinating and futuristic but also alarming with the questions about human cloning that are ripped from today's headlines.
But when the two escaped 'spare parts' find themselves in the big city, Michael Bay gets to take off the first hour shackles and do what he does best. Blow things up. In the last hour of the film, we definitely get what a summer film promises with explosions, helicopter chases, destruction on an unfathomable level and a spectacular car chase scene that is one of the best metal meets larger metal destruction scenes in many a summer.
The result of the two parts being put together is Michael Bay's best film to date. That is not to say that I am running out to see the 127 minute film yet again, but unlike say Pearl Harbor or Armageddon, I didn't find myself shifting in my seat or looking at my watch wondering if I can endure the films final chapters. It is insightful  well, the first half  and incredibly entertaining  well, the second half. Not unlike Spielberg's Minority Report, The Island delivers an intelligent story surrounded by loud noises that will shake the foundation of my basement through a subwoofer when the DVD is released around Christmas time.
So, I have to give Michael Bay a get out of jail free card for this 21st century fantasy. It was a wild ride that continues what I have felt to be a rather impressive summer of releases that above the mediocrity we are accustomed to from May until August. I do feel that the world is close to coming to an end since I appreciated a Michael Bay effort, but hey, if I can get the value out of the price of a ticket admission now a days, I am a happy camper.
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